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America Through A Bug-Stained Windshield

Sometimes I wonder how my wife reconciles loving this wandering mess that is me. The unspoken fear of so many artists is the discovery of true love. Not the kind of love that burns hard and fast, but the kind that smolders with no end and wouldn't let you go if you tried. I can't speak for all writers, but I know I speak for many when I say that it is a secret fear amongst us that with this smoldering comes the death of an atomic dream. New love is easy art. In the stirring of discovery poetry grows from seed to sunlight in short blistering days. In the light of the unknown the mystery of another makes anything seem possible. In love we are reborn in a frenzied blaze of hyper existence. In the dissolution of love we are blown to pieces. Some pieces we collect in the fallout of moving on and others we leave behind; thumb tacks on the great maps of our personal histories, showing us all the places that we have been.

Last Friday, in search of something I began to drive. The preceding Wednesday, my band and I flew the old metal bird from Los Angeles to Richmond in the spirit of rallying behind a fallen friend. I have known illness, as most of us have, and sitting in a hospital room with a sick man's family is to know love. Not blistering love but real love. We spent two nights playing music and drinking, visiting on porches and watching nights turn to mornings, always reminded by the wages life can take from us in the moments we don't expect. In those days we couldn't stand to be alone, as if we were clinging to each other and the blessing of these long nights that we sadly could not share with our imprisoned friend. In the heat of a Virginia morning, on the heels of these sleepless visits, I rented a car and began my travel; one that would eventually lead me to this hotel room in the California/Nevada mountains from where I am now writing you.

What I ended up finding was a vision of America that I always knew existed, but never truly opened my eyes to. We live in a time so confused by the messages fed to us by our television sets and computer screens, that we so often lose sight of what is real. We live in a nation divided by our allegiances to politicians who often care nothing for us as individuals unless we've lined their pockets and bought the advertisements that lead to their election. Still though, for all our differences, we are simply people and the thread running through all of us is so very much the same. Where we are raised and what we see as children inform our futures in ways that leave some of us so lucky and others so wounded. The things we are told and the things we see as we're pulled from the ground like flowers, broken and beautiful, are so often are the things we become. Still what most of us seem to be searching for is love; this complex connection to another strange traveler. A wind that wakes us in the gloaming as the sun fades behind the hills and reminds us that some nights aren't meant to be slept through. To know another is to know a universe of others, and as I smolder here alone the words could not leave my fingertips fast enough. Sometimes a soul must wander to truly know it is home.

Whole Albums that pulled me through this great land:
(and yes, you'll recognize many of these as my old favorites)

Graceland- Paul Simon
Prairie Wind- Neil Young
Alphabetical-Phoenix
August and Everything After- Counting Crows
North Hills-Dawes
Low Vs Diamond-Low Vs Diamond
Far- Regina Spektor
Ooohs and Aahs-Say Hi
Steel Train- Steel Train
Wildflowers-Tom Petty
Miike Snow-Miike Snow
Greatest Hits-Neil Young
Anthology- Through the Years- Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers

Great songs for the road mix:
I can see the pines are dancing- A.A. Bondy
Bruises-Chairlift
La vie en rose- Edith Piaf
Rocket Man-Elton John
Dreams-Fleetwood Mac
That's Some Dream-Good Old War
You Give Me Something- James Morrison
Stop This Train-John Mayer
The Boxer-Simon and Garfunkel
America-Simon and Garfunkel
Homeward Bound-Simon and Garfunkel
VCR-The XX
The High Road-Broken Bells
My Love- Erland and the Family
Blood-The Middle East
Young Bride-Midlake
Strong Enough-Sheryl Crow
Hey Jealousy- Gin Blossoms
Pursuit of Happiness (Kid Cudi Cover)- Lissie
Tonight Tonight (Pumpkins Cover)-Passion Pit
Answer to Yourself- The Soft Pack
I saw the Light- Todd Rundgren
Fair Play- Van Morrison
Just Like Heaven- The Cure
Every Time I leave (I leave For Good)-Dave Smallen
Carolann- Dave Smallen
Over and Over- OAR (demo for upcoming album)
Into the Mirror- Minus the Bear
Currents-Treaty Of Paris
I Think Your a Contra- Vampire Weekend
Airplanes-B.O.B

Help For Dan

I come to you with the unfortunate news that earlier this week one of
our dear friends, Dan Duggins, has suffered a stroke. Below is a
statement written by a mutual friebd of the band and Dan's who has
helped set up a fund for his healthcare. Please read. We love you Dan,
your in our hearts and our prayers.

An old and dear friend of mine, Dan Duggins needs your help. For those
of you who have not heard, or don't know Dan, on Tuesday evening he
suffered a stroke due to a blood clot in his neck. He is currently in a
"locked in" state in intensive care, which means that he can not move
and cannot communicate, except with eye movement. I've just read this
morning that he moved his left foot on command, which is absolutely
amazing, and definitely hopeful!

For those of you who have never met Dan, he was the commanding force
behind the drums for Hot Rod Circuit from early 2004 until the end of
the band in 2007. Over the last couple of years Dan played drums with
the Queen Killing Kings, and currently with Zigmat.

I first met Dan in his days with his old band Lazycain, way back in the
Richmond days...probably 1997-ish. He and I got the chance to become
friends in early 2000 when he filled in for Hot Rod after Wes left the
band. He has always been a great friend, a stand up guy, and a talented
musician. I don't think there is one person in the world that would
disagree with any of these things about Dan. He is just a solid
individual.

When I heard the news yesterday I was in utter shock. This news crushed
everyone that I spoke to yesterday. I am really hoping that everyone
will rally behind Dan and Jo Ann and their families right now in their
time of need and support.

Like most full time musicians, Dan does not have health insurance. His
medical bills and living expenses during/after this will be through the
roof. I have set up a paypal account to help him and his family with
this financial burden. If there are any of you out there that can donate
to help, it would be greatly appreciated. Even a few dollars will help.
Here is the paypal info:

Dan Duggins Fund
dandugginsfund@gmail.com (this is the
paypal account email address) DONATE

Cards and well wishes can be sent to Dan's family here:
Tom & Chris Duggins
4317 Joseph Drive
Glen Allen, VA 23060

Thank you for reading this and keeping Dan in your thoughts. We have to
stay positive for him so he can fight through this!

Because Laughing Is Good

A good friend of the jack's camp has a big moment coming up. Our buddy, Rory from the daily show will be featured in his own 30 minute special on comedy central tomorrow night. I don't usually do this sort of thing on the web site, but he is truly one of the funniest people I've ever met and I am so excited that people are taking notice. If you get a chance check it out. Details below!

-A

Half Hour Stand Up Special
Comedy Central
Friday April 2nd, 11pm.
twitter-@roryalbanese
roryalbanese.com

We Have Ignition

As I step into the final hours of the Sing For Your Supper Tour I would be remiss not to write and say thank you to all who came out. This has truly been one of the best road trips of my career. I can't say enough about the quality of the musicians and people out here with us for the last month. From the amazing support of everyone in the Jack's camp, to our exceptional opening acts in Vedera and Fun. It seems so appropriate that the last of the major touring on The Glass Passenger be met with a feeling of completion and peace. In many ways I have been tracking this feeling for a number of years, always with it close within reach but never fully attained. In the past 6 months, armed with the sense of closure brought about by the release of Dear Jack, I can honestly say that I feel the best that I have in my 27 years. I am so full of energy and hope for what is to come. As I have said throughout this tour, I will have the great pleasure of reuniting with my dear friends in Something Corporate. We will release a Best Of compilation this spring in addition to performing a couple of long overdue shows. This is something we've spoken of for years, but in many ways I am happy we waited. Talking to the guys, I really feel like we are all in a moment where we feel so ready to celebrate all that we accomplished as a band. The record will have a lot of classic SoCo tracks as well as an EP's worth of bonus songs. The EP will include a couple of our most popular b-sides, two remixes and two newly recorded versions of vintage Something Corporate tunes from before we were signed. I think these will be a great addition to our catalog, and I can't wait for you all to hear them. In an effort to stay truly busy, I will also be in the studio preparing Jack's Mannequin's third album. A record that in many ways has been a year in the making, but one that I am pleased to be putting together now, at this moment of perfect inspiration. It's hard to describe how good it feels to be writing the music that I hear in my head free of so much conflict and drama. I have regularly stacked the deck against myself by saying too much too soon into the recording process, but my gut tells me that this record is going to be special. I live to be in this clear head-space while I'm working, so needless to say I'm going to work as much as I can while I'm here. Sorry to go on so long, but I figure that since I'm pretty much just a tourist in this digital world, I'd get it all out while I was visiting. Be well.

Andrew

Hail Hail

This week would have been surreal just considering the company I've been lucky enough to keep, but add three mornings before sunrise and about 5000 miles in the sky and it's starting to feel like a waking dream. I'm sitting bleary-eyed on our bus in the middle of a Milwaukee freeze, flashing back to the first time I heard Pinkerton in my best friend's bedroom back in high school. It's hard to explain what it feels like to look down and know the band who authored some of my favorite songs of all time is now the name on the back of my tour laminate. To add to my luck, last night, on our day off from the Weezer tour we were invited to play a show in New York with some new heroes of mine, Phoenix. From time to time I'll go through these phases where I struggle to connect to what's coming through the pipeline of modern music. I was in one of these ruts when I first heard the Phoenix album several months back, and it was like having light turned on in a very dark room. In so many senses it was that same feeling I had back in high school listening to "El Scorcho" and "Tired of Sex" on my best friends stereo. Rock n Roll is a tricky business and in some ways you're always wondering when the train is going to come off the tracks. That said, if it all ended tomorrow I've got some pretty amazing memories and milestones to take with me, and this week is no exception.

Hail, hail Rock n Roll.

the sunset house

It's early here on the west coast
The giant sleeps
Los Angeles in an hour of deceptive calm

meditations from the road home

I am not the type of person who wears sunglasses inside, but I would like to be. I dabble in this art from when traveling by plane. I am not certain why I have chosen sky machines and airports as my exception to this unspoken rule, but I will say, unlike most people, I always look forward to flying.

I leave you with a quote from Mr. Bukowski's "portions from a wine-stained notebook"

Why do you write?

"I write as a function. Without it I would fall ill and die. It's as much a part of one as the liver or intestine, and just about as glamorous."

FOR MATT

This Saturday as I was preparing to leave for Denver and the beginning of the solo tour, I received a phone call that I had hoped I never would. Matt Cwiertney, a dear friend, and an unrelenting symbol of hope, had lost his long and hard fought battle with cancer. It is not common for me to tread such heavy ground on this page, but Matt was not just a close friend of mine, he was a champion for the causes I fight for and an inspiration to so many of my friends, family and fans. Over the course of the past year or so that we've come to know each other, Matt and his family have taught me more about perseverance, positivity and strength than I can ever put into words. In the midst of his battle, Matt's family rallied around him and the idea that something so difficult could be turned into something beautiful and positive. For two years in a row the Cwiertney family has raised 10s of thousands of dollars for the Light the Night walks in honor of Matt. As he fought for his own life, he and his family selflessly fought for so many others that were suffering. I was honored to get to spend a couple of great days with Matt over this past summer. Even as his condition became more unpredictable, he was unbelievably focused and exceedingly positive. He shot pictures in the barricade at our Orange County show with the Fray and weeks later, despite having received news that he had developed a brain tumor, our families walked side-by-side together at Light the Night. Towards the end of the walk, Matt and I got separated and were unable to say goodbye in person, a reality that leaves me with great sadness. Still, in the midst of this sadness it is impossible not to celebrate the spirit of this incredible Man. The skinny, sweet kid with a huge heart who loved music and taking pictures and just wanted to be well. As I embark on this month of shows, raising money for the Dear Jack Foundation, Matt's story gives me great pause. It is for him and for the countless others who have not been as fortunate as I have that we started the foundation. I would like to dedicate this next month of my travels to Matt and his memory as well as the incredible love and strength embodied by his family. Thank you all for taking a moment to read these words.

Vancouver: a love letter

I'm writing you from a black sand beach beneath the steep pitch of Canadian forest. I knew I needed an ocean today and I was right. As the fates would have it I found a security guard somewhere outside the tour compound, who, while performing his task virtually in vein happened to be the first of many guides on my path to a rare and excessive peace. It wasn't until I was further down the road that I found a man with a long set of locked dreads and skate board of similar length that I asked again, where I might find this beach. Before him, the path of large tress I walked along only hinted at the black a blue that stretched out below, hidden by branches, so protective and covered by leaves so green.

The love of a mother.
It was a left at the Winnebago where a man sold cold drinks and fruit when I saw the woman in the modified space suit. She wore wings and a tin foil skirt and wished me a happy moon day. I could say this was strange but it wasn't, it was right. And, as together we descended meters or inches or miles to the waters below it was clear she was only getting higher. And I suppose there's no reason she wouldn't be. I'm pretty sure this was heaven.

You Will Be Missed...

R I P M J

Slingshot

Boarding the plane today I was a head full of noise. Forced to process some everyday business disaster in the midst of what I'd intended to be a peaceful slipping away; A quiet departure from the brutal, beautiful capital of my endlessly expanding homeland. I felt myself disengage. With my thumb to the red button, pre-flight beverage in hand, and the routine safety belt check nearly completed, my digital Walkman emerged. Discretion is key in moments like this. You know what you need; you need songs. You know how quickly those songs can be taken from you if you aren't realistic about the potential dangers of rigid flight attendants. You also know how good it feels when a taxiing plane transforms into a metal-winged miracle as you, eyes closed, sit, scoring the soundtrack of your great escape. It's these moments that inspired everyday people to create moving pictures and sprawling canvases and symphonies. It's these moments where you, being entirely present for however brief a time, IS in fact, art. With the right Lens, Melody, Paint Brush, Math equation it could be defined and reproduced for all of humanity to understand. How perfect that my cautiously adorned headphones lead me not to hassle, but instead to "Us and Them". A track, that to me, largely defines the overriding theme of Pink Floyd's, Dark Side of the Moon album. Somehow, it manages to speak equally to the malaise of a morning interrupted as it does to the general state of the human condition. (At least some human's condition, I'm guessing). This is the stuff of real art and real music. Dissection. Exploration. Pop music with teeth, an experiment in human behavior and sound. What a fulfilling listen. Drifting off into the daytime, so far from my self-appointed capital, just a slingshot to the future.

A HOTEL ROOM WITH TOO MUCH TIME ON MY HANDS

As a matter of practice for several years now I have commonly documented my day to day in a handful of forms. Obviously in songs, but also through journaling and keeping home movies as well. Its fairly rare, but sometimes I'll use garage (mac's nifty little recording program) or my cell phone answering machine to leave little audio journals, Again, these installations are usually about the mundane details of the every day. A week or two ago on a day off from the farther from earth tour I discovered this recording I made in the middle of a recent and grueling string of international tour dates. So, with a day off and an excess of time in a one motel town a cut together a loop from my garage band with the more lyrical parts of my previous rant. I liked it's bizzaro nature and how it became a little song along the way. Its nothing special but it was a fun little project and figured I might as well share it.

Be well, A.




thoughtsbanginround(vers. 2) - Andrew McMahon

A Pair of Sandals...

A pair of shoes
A pair of sunglasses
And my mind...

Things I lost on tour

Okay, maybe not my mind, but it read better that way. Thank you to everyone for making it out to the farther from earth tour. We're taking some quality memories home with us in our suitcases today. Big thanks to Matt and Erin and their bands, as well as the Low Vs. Diamond dudes. Taking a few days on a beach to decompress. When I get back Ill get some polaroids from the tour scanned in and online, if you're into that sort of thing.
Peace

Wheeling West Virginia

There was a washer and a dryer at the hotel I went down the hill to the
Spic and Span laundromat anyway
The people there were real And they photographed better
Than tourists in hilltop hotels

Hey all,
Just a little verse from a day off a couple weeks back. We're coming up on the end of the tour here and can't thank you all enough for making your way out to these shows. Also, I wanted to post a little happy birthday on to Bobby Raw. Richmond, as some of you know, has been called home by three fourths of the Jack's Mannequin band. That said, we are looking forward to celebrating the raw ones big day with all of you at The National show tomorrow.

peace A

Song For a Submarine

The Farther From Earth Tour is off to a great start. It feels like a while since I've headlined a tour this size with big production elements like the light show we're carrying. That said, we've been loving every night and cannot say enough to thank both our fans and the amazing people from the Low vs Diamond and Matt Nathanson camps. I know a blog is long overdue so I'm going to pass along some road poems and pictures in the coming weeks as well as some home movie stuff. Thanks for your patience guys.

Here's installation # 1

Song for a Submarine

Met Sorvino in the lobby with my journal
We gave the German bartender a mood ring
Her boss called almost immediately
She was a Capricorn
I was wondering what was next
Been standing on the edge of something for a while now
Its Easter in Grand Rapids
The wheat haired waitresses
Gather in the midst of madness
Wishing to hate us, only to fail
We are more honest
Then the buttoned up, family nuclear
Fresh from Sunday service.

Back at home my girl set the daffodils on fire
She didn't mean to
But I heard there are never any
Real mistakes
Most girls I know wish
They were Alice
in
wonderland
I just wish I were IN wonderland
Sometimes I think I am

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